Every wedding we shoot is completely different and there are little nuances that are unique to you and your day. With that said, for almost all of our couples, they are having some sort of getting ready time, ceremony, reception, and formal pictures done. When our couples opt to have a first look, one of the reasons they do so is so that they can get the family and bridal party pictures out of the way. We touched on this briefly a couple of weeks ago. This is incredibly helpful and we’ve never had anyone regret it. But for those of you who love the traditional aspect of seeing each other for the first time at the ceremony, we will want to get started with the formal shots as soon as possible after the ceremony. At the tail end of this time, we will do shots of the two of you. Depending on the time of year it is, weather, and time of day, we’ll want to grab you again later on in the evening for a few more shots. This may be around sunset, or when it is dark out- Sometimes it is both. For this reason, we recommend having some flexibility with the formalities during the reception. We can offer some insight on this if you would like, but overall, if you communicate with the DJ/band and coordinator that the timeline for the reception is fluid, they’ll understand. This may mean that we grab you during dinner and push forward the toasts a few minutes, or something similar. Again, this is what we recommend based on past weddings and what we have found works best. We want to prioritize the parts of the day that are the most important to you, so if keeping the reception timeline locked in is ideal, we can make that work.
The timeline of your wedding isn’t something to stress about in the grand scheme of things though. The ceremony is really the only locked in time restraint, and outside of that, things are often flexible. This is important to keep in mind leading up to your day because parts are going to shift. By no means am I saying that you shouldn’t try to stick to it as best you can, but the timeline is a guide- not the law. It’s very likely that there will be a point in the day where we approach you about going out for a quick shot- I can assure you that if you come, it will be work your time!
Overall, many of our couples use us as a resource for planning their timeline because we are likely the only vendor that will be with you the entire day. We want every part of your day to be perfect and part of that is making sure your timeline is structured in a way that makes sense for each micro event happening. Throughout the planning process, lean on us in any way you would like. Obviously we are there primarily to document the day as it happens, but we also want to make sure your day has as little stress as possible. If we can help in any way, let us know!